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]]>https://thewordpressguy.net/time-to-migrate/feed/028128Be the Next Amazon or eBayhttps://thewordpressguy.net/be-the-next-amazon-or-ebay/
https://thewordpressguy.net/be-the-next-amazon-or-ebay/#respondWed, 14 Feb 2018 01:09:07 +0000https://thewordpressguy.net/?p=28114DO IT WITH DOKAN! If you’ve ever dreamed of having your own “multi-vendor” site in the same vein as Amazon or eBay, well, you can! The folks over at weDevs make this simple with their Dokan plugin. Watch this short video: ]]>

DO IT WITH DOKAN!

If you’ve ever dreamed of having your own “multi-vendor” site in the same vein as Amazon or eBay, well, you can! The folks over at weDevs make this simple with their Dokan plugin. Watch this short video:

NEED MORE EYEBALLS ON YOUR BLOG?

Who doesn’t. More and more, seems like people just do not want to read. Is it Chronophobia, fear caused by thinking too much time may be involved to read? Perhaps, and I have a cure for this.

Take a look at the Reading Time WP plugin by Jason Yingling. What this plugin does is estimate your posts reading time, displaying same at the posts beginning (or, wherever you wish with use of a shortcode). Average adults read at a pace of 300 words per minute (who knew?) so the plugin does the math.

Maybe this extra validation will encourage your site visitors to spend a minute or two reading your stuff.

THE “DEFIANT TEAM” ANNOUNCES:

Bummer! We just sang high praise to Gravityscan via our post HERE, only to learn today Gravityscan is soon to be no longer. This note just received via email:

We have some exciting news and some bittersweet news. We will jump straight to the point that we will be shutting down Gravityscan on March 8th, 2018. We can’t thank you enough for supporting this fun and progressive experiment. Unfortunately, it never found the critical mass of devoted customers it needed to survive.

We have ended the Free Security Monitoring program and Gravityscan badges for those sites will be disabled today. Scheduled scans will continue to run for another month.

You will have access to your Gravityscan account through March 8th. We recommend that you remove the badge code from all of your sites at your earliest convenience.

If you have any questions, please send them to feedback@gravityscan.com.

The exciting news is we are already at work on new product ideas that will incorporate some of the amazing technology built into Gravityscan and we believe help even more customers protect their websites.

Thank you again for supporting Gravityscan. You played an important role in this journey. This decision doesn’t impact any of Defiant’s other products or services. We hope you’ll join us for the next chapter, as we continue our efforts to make the web safer.

HOW I MADE NO MONEY WITH AMAZON:

“Better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all.” Humph. I hate failure. When I put effort behind something, I expect some level of success – a modicum of financial reward. See my post, this past August, 2017 – HERE.

Six months ago, I signed up as an “Amazon Associate,” (Amazon’s affiliate marketing program) with expectations of making a buck or two. Six months later, it never happened, and I was booted by Amazon from the program. Bummer. Here’s the “Dear Fred” email I received from Amazon:

Hello, We are writing to notify you that your Associates Program application has been rejected and you will no longer have access to Associates Central. This action was taken because we have not yet received qualified sales activities from your account. As a reminder, Accounts that have not referred three qualified sales within in 180-days of sign-up are automatically rejected. You are free to reapply to the Associates Program at any time, but we recommend only doing so if your website receives consistent traffic. We wish you the best of luck with your website in the future.

I did my best to target products available through Amazon to the content and scope of my website – software, services, Internet, etc., just as Amazon advised. This strategy did not work for me, and now I am an Amazon Associates outcast. But, hey. I am not complaining, and true to my ways, I’ll try again – after I conceive a better strategy.

I’m still a big Amazon fan, and they continue to make money off me, particularly via Amazon Web Services. Here’s a few words about failure from the man himself, Jeff Bezos:

Jeff Bezos on Failure

Amazon founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos treats his new projects the same way that venture capitalists manage new investments. “You need to be making big, noticeable failures,” says Bezos. “The great thing is that, when you take this approach, a small number of winners pay for dozens, hundreds of failures, and so every single important thing we’ve done has taken a lot of risk, risk-taking, perseverance, guts, and some have worked out. Most of them have not. That has to happen at every scale level all the way down.” Bezos acknowledges making billions of dollars worth of failures while creating one of the most dominant companies of all time!

GET A SAFER WEBSITE:

From the security experts, maker of WordFence, a great complementing site security and monitoring enhancement – Gravityscan. Unlike WordFence, no plugin is needed as this is SAAS. The best part – this is free! Simply signup on the Gravityscan site. There is a premium version available for a nominal monthly fee, but for now, I’m enjoying the free!

Do you have a WooCommerce shop setup on your site and need or want and alternative to PayPal? Consider using Square! It’s free to signup and transaction costs are the same as PayPal: 2.9% + $.30 per transaction. BONUS: Your sales proceeds are usually deposited to your bank account on the following business day. If this is not fast enough for you, for a 1.0% fee, you can instantly deposit your funds from Square to your bank account 24/7/365 – no exclusions or holiday blackouts!

WooCommerce does not natively offer a payment gateway to Square, but you can get this (as a WordPress/WooCommerce plugin) for free after you signup for an account with Square. Watch my super short video below for easy instructions:

HOW DID I GET HACKED?

Suffice to say, there are infinite ways to hack, gain access to, a website. If WordPress, a hacker’s vehicle of choice is overwhelmingly via plugins you install! What? Yep, not much difference here than handing the keys to your car to a thief!

Be careful what plugins you install! One “bad apple” malicious plugin can wreak all kinds of havoc – from stealing your, and your site subscriber’s personal information to taking control of everyone’s personal computers, bank accounts, etc.!

WHAT CAN I DO?

Firstly, there are close to 50,000 (and growing) plugins available for your download and use in the WordPress.org Plugin Repository. Most of these plugins are available for free. Google searches and other popular software sites such as GitHub afford even more download opportunities. Caveat Emptor! While WordPress.org does have quality standards plugin developers must pass prior to including their work, there is no assurance offered or warranted by WordPress as to a plugin’s integrity! In other words, download and use at your own risk – and that of others. Ditto for other WordPress plugin download sites.

So, here’s my best advice:

Download plugins from reputable sites. Notwithstanding what I said above, the WordPress.org Plugin Repository is reputable and a safe bet. However, stay away from poorly rated plugins, plugins which have not been updated for months or years, plugins not compatible with the most recent version of WordPress, and abandoned plugins. Other “premium” (paid) sites such as Envato/Code Canyon are likewise reputable, but again – check standards as you would with WordPress.org.

Check for vulnerable plugins. You can Google search by using the plugin’s name and “vulnerable”. If you see something suspicious, such as numerous negative comments – stay away! There are also plenty of sites available for free use who have already done the research. WPScan Vulnerability Database is one. WP Campus, which I have featured before, is another.

Always keep your WordPress site and plugins updated! Reputable plugin developers/vendors stay on top of their work, correcting would-be vulnerabilities (security holes). Of course, back up your site prior to updating.

I’m a big Fan of the Divi Theme for WordPress from Elegant Themes. It’s packed with easy to use site builder features and the developers are focused with consistent updates. However, sometimes you might need a little more tweaking not (currently) readily available.

In example, one of my clients wanted to use an image for the background areas of the menu and the Divi footer bottom bar as you can see in the image to the left (click to enlarge). Unfortunately, Divi does not provide an option for this seemingly simple task. Fear not! You can easily add images to these areas by adding a bit of code to your CSS file. Use either the built-in Divi Custom CSS feature to add these codes, or add to your Child Theme CSS. NOTE: Please use a Child Theme, it’s the best way to ensure your site modifications do not get “wiped out” when you update WordPress and/or the Divi Theme.

SITE OF THE DAY!

Ever shoot or receive a video only to find it’s in the wrong orientation, say portrait rather than landscape? If you lack the software, equipment, or skills to correct, I have the fix four you!

Head over to Rotate My Video and upload the rogue video that needs fixing. Push a button or two, and voila! All fixed! Download your video or share it to social networks directly from the site. Genius, and totally free!